The Courage Child
by MaeglinRumil
Summary: Tai and the rest of the gang are back at the digiworld. but a new digimon, whom they've never seen or heard of wants Tai. What will the gang do? More importantly, what will Matt do? Taito! COMPLETE!
1. chapter 1

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Title: The Courage Child

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Author: angel zeniko-chan

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Email: zeni24@hotmail.com

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Rating: Taito, a bit of Takari, Koushiro/Sora, and Mimi/Jyou

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Summary: In the Digital World, Tai is targeted by a powerful digimon who wants our favourite leader to rule with her.

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Author's Notes: Hey everyone! This is my first Taito story, so please don't blame me if it sucks. Hope you like it!

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Disclaimer: As much as I want it to, Digimon does not belong to me. Neither does any of the characters used in this fic, other then MAYBE (I emphasis maybe because they might exsist but I don't know about them) Catlimon, Miliramon and Griffonmon and other digimon who you've never heard of because the names are so farfetched. 

*** change of POV or time gap

"speaking"

'thinking'

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Italics: letter

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The Courage Child

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by: angel zeniko-chan

"Tai! Taichi! Are you okay?"

Tai felt someone shake his shoujlders. That voice... it was... Kari's.

"Wha-? What?" He asked, sitting up from the rock, hard ground.

"Are you okay, onichan? Did you have a bad dream? You were thrashing around." His little sister told him, concern held in her deep brown eyes.

Tai hugged her, comforting both her and hisself. He didn't remember what his dream was about, but he knew that it was something bad. "I'm okay, Kar." He hugged her again, pulling her onto his lap. "Go to sleep." He said, softly.

"Play me something..." She asked, snuggling in his chest. Yamato wasn't the only one who could play an instrument. Although no one knew it, Tai carried a tiny flute in his pocket. And he was really good at playing it too. No one ever heard him play because he only played for Kari, embarassed about what anyone else would say about this little secret of his.

Taichi smiled and lifted Kari easily and walked beside the lake, before setting her down again. He made sure that she was comfortable before looking around seeing if they were far enough. He smiled as he saw everyone sleeping a bit away from them.

Koushiro and Sora. Mimi and Jyou. TK and Yamato. And him and Kari.

Their digimons also sleep beside their designated partners, with the exception of Gatomon and Agumon who snuggled together. It seemed that the closer he and Kari were, the closer their digimon were as well.

The fearless leader carefully took out his shiny silver flute and trilled a few notes, testing the sound. Finally, he decided on a tune and started playing a soft haunting melody that he decided was best for Kari to fall asleep with.

Kari wrapped her tiny arms around her brother's waist and sighed. Then she fell asleep, lulled by the soft melody of Taichi's song.

Tai smiled down at his little sister. She was the world to him. He vowed to keep her safe, always. He took his shirt and wrapped it around her when he felt her shiver with the cold. It didn't Yamatoer to him. As long as Kari was okay, then he would be happy.

"Thanks... Onichan..."

"You're welcome." He said, kissing her forehead. He continued playing his flute. It was a new song that he had written while he was feeling lonely. The lyrics he had kept in his pocket, unknown to everyone other then him.

"Well, well." A voice said, breaking into his thoughts. "What do we have here?"

Tai's head spun around, careful of not waking Kari.

In front of him, stood a digimon. She was unlike any other digimon that he and the others had encountered before. She looked somewhat like Ladydevimon. She had a gothic look, her face completely pale. She was wearing an extensive amount of makeup and a black dress which had a slit from her thigh down.

If Tai was a normal boy, he would have gone nuts over this digimon. 

But he wasn't normal. First of all, he was a digidestined and second of all...

"What do you want?!" He demanded, his crest of Courage shining as he drew the digimon away from his beloved sister and the others.

"You." She said. "I am Miliramon. I rule a kingdom far from here." Then she said seducingly, "I need a worthy boy to be the king."

"I'm not ruling anything with **you**!" Tai yelled out softly, careful of not waking the others.

"You will soon." She said and when she disappeared, Tai let out a sigh. Then she appeared again and slashed his back with the giant nails of hers.

To Tai, it hurt like hell, but he bit his lip from crying out loud. He fell to the ground.

"Don't worry. I'll be back for you." Miliramon smiled and truly disappeared.

Taichi crawled over to where his little was lying. He decided that no one else needed to know about this, and the only person he trusted to keep quiet was Kari. "Kari. Wake up, please!" He whispered as loud as he dared to.

Kari heared her brother's pleas and woke up. "What's wrong?" She asked, rubbing her tired eyes.

"Can you go to Jyou's bag and get the firt aid kit without waking anyone?" He asked, his back itching like crazy.

His sister nodded and he wacthed as she scampered to the bag and got the kit before crawling back, disturbing no one.

Then Taichi turned on his back. "You remember what I thought you before?" He asked. Recently, he had taught both Kari and TK about first aid and he was positive that they knew what to do in emergencies.

She nodded again then glanced at his back. When she saw the sight, she bit her lip from screaming, the tears escaping down her cheeks.

Tai saw them and winced as he wiped them away. "Don't cry." He said, lying through his teeth. "It doesn't hurt at all. Can you just wrap them up?" He asked her.

Hikari could see that it did hurt a lot, but she did as her brother asked her. She wrapped the gauze as bvest as she could around the 5 scratches which now, permenately scarred her brother's back. They were very long and deep as well, but Tai bared the pain well and didn't show it.

"Thanks, Kari. I owe you one." He said as she helped him put his t-shirt back on.

Kari hugged her brother, being careful of his wounds. "Just don't leave me, k?" She asked, innocently.

Taichi smiled. "Of course not." He took out his flute and continued playing it throughout the night.

Kari didn't sleep though. She stayed up, watching and listening to Tai play his music. "I love you." She whispered.

"Love you too." Tai grinned and patted her head. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

Although Tai reassured herthat he would be fine, she still didn't sleep. She listened attentively to Tai's new song and they watched the sunrise together.

***

"**Rise and shine,** people!" Tais called out to the 3 sleepy quarduples of humans ans digimon.

Everyone sat up and yawned. "It's too early..." Mimi said. Taking her big pink hat and setting it back over her eyes, she fell back on Jyou's chest. "Wkae me up later."

The blue-haired boy blushed, but didn't complain. Then he saw that the bag he always carried was opened. "Hey!" He cried. "Who went through my bag?!"

Tai looked at Kari, silently wishing with his eyes not to tell anyone. "Sorry, Jyou." Tai said sheepishly, painfully raising his arms to the back of his head without changing his grin. "I did."

Jyou glared at him at Tai but didn't ask why he had been through the first aid kit as he closed it. "It better have been a good reason."

Tai grinned. "Life or death." He promised.

The others just shook their heads. It was evident that Tai was his goofy self and he would not tell anyone why he went through the bag in the first place and Jyou had no right to persist because the bag belonged to all of them and not just him.

"Let's go find some berries or fruit to eat." Sora said and she and Mimi walked out, dragging their boyfriends and their digimon with them.

Agumon lumbered over to Tai, yawning. "Did something happen last time?" He asked. Even if he was tired, he had sensed some kind of emotion in Tai's eyes that was not like what his bright brown eyes usually showed.

Tai panicked for a split second then calmed down. "Just your stomach rumbling every two seconds." He patted Agumon's yellow head. "We'll find something to eat."

Agumon nodded. If his partner wasn't ready to tell him what was wrong, then he wouldn't ask and would let Tai tell him when the time was right. "Alright." The yellow dinosaur nodded before walking into the forest after the girls.

Kari, Tk and their digimon had already went looking for food in the bushes, so Tai went to follow them. He turned slightly to look at Yamato. "You coming?" He asked, but it seemed that the blonde boy didn't hear him. Then something caught his eye. Gabumon was sniffing at the spot where he and Kari had 'slept' last night.

**'Oh no!'** Tai thought, getting jumpy. 'Gabumon must have smelled my blood or something...' He quickly started to walk to the forest, but his back hurt. He didn't know why. 'It wasn't hurting before..' He thought, worried. Then, feeling something in his throat clog up, he fell to the ground, coughing.

***

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(Yamato's POV)

"Yamato!" Gabumon called me over to the lake. As I walked over to my digimon partner, I saw Tai get all fidgety. 'What's with him?' I thought but switched my attention back to the spot where Gabumon was pointing to.

"There's blood here." Gabumon said.

I looked closely. He was right. There were trails of crimson liquid coming from the forest and stopping right at this spot. 'Where did it come from?' I tried thinking of who had spelt there.... Tai and Kari. It couln't be Kari that was hurt because then Tai would have been making a big fuss over her. So the only logical answer was that this was Tai's blood.

But how?

I tried to remember if I had heard anything last night. 

Nothing...

Wait. 

The last thing I remembering hearing was the sound of a flute... That's not right. Tai doesn't play the flute; he's tone deaf and Kari was a bit too young to learn how to play it.

So who was it?

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tai fall. He was coughing pretty badly as I walked over. Maybe he could give me some answers on this whole mystery.

***

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(Tai's POV)

I tried breathing deeply, but it only increased the cough in my throat. Covering my mouth using one hand, I used the other one to push myself up to sit on the green grass.

"Something wrong?" I heard someone say.

I jumped. I didn't mean to, but I thought that everyone had left already.

I shook my head, hoping for Yamato to leave me alone. I didn't trust my voice yet.

Surprisingly he did leave me alone. I sighed in relief.

I know that I shouldn't be treating my best friend like that. But he wasn't just my best friend. I loved him. And that wasn't right. A boy cannot just love a boy. So I pushed him away. 

We drifted further and further, until we were hardly at speaking terms.

So for Yamato to not bug me, it was a big thing, but I didn't question it now. I just welcomed the fact that he left and maybe I could find if something was wrong with me. No one just coughed for nothing. No. Something was wrong with me. But I wasn't sick. It was near to impossible for me to be sick.

When Yamato walked away, the pain in my heart increasing, I pulled my hand away from my mouth.

Blood.

Maybe Miliramon did something to me, I thought. But the other side of me argued that all she did was scratch me. No one ever coughed from being scratched.

I shook the thought away and washed my hands in the lake. I should catch up to the others. Yamato and Gabumon had already gone ahead, leaving me at the campsite. I supported myself with shaky hands and got up. I looked around then walked into the woods, following the others.

***

Yamato watched in the shadows as the smalled boy pulled his hand away from his mouth. Just as he suspected, he saw blood.

'Tai coughing up blood?' He thought to himself a bit worried. 'Something MUST have happened last night.'

He sat down at the lake side, deep in thought.

'Jyou's bag. I t was left open, but all there is, is the first aid kit...'

**'First aid kit!'** Yamato's sky blue eyes widened. He watched as everyone came back from their scavenging, carrying some big melons and a bag full of berries. Surprisingly, Jyou had sacrificed his shrit for them to use as a basket. Normally, Tai would have offered to do this. Yamato thought that it was very odd.

He helped everyone prepare breakfast. 'I'll have to watch him.'

Sora took a glance at the older blonde boy. Something was wrong today. First Tai was silent like he was deep in thought, then instead of him offering to use his shirt as a basket for the berries TK and Kari had found, Jyou had only when no one said anything. 

Now Yamato was acting weird. He seemed to be staring off in space, looking somewhere close to Tai.

"Yamato? **Yamato?** Is something wrong?" The brown haired girl waved her arms infront of the preoccupied boy's face. "Hello?"

Gabumon looked at his partner worriedly. Something about what he had told Yamato this morning was bugging him a lot. 'I think he's trying to find out who's blood it was.' Gabumon knew. He could smell the scent of bllod coming from Tai, but he knew that their leader didn't want to say it for a reason, so he kept his muzzle shut.

Yamato snapped out of his thinking. "Hehe... Sorry 'bout that. What were you saying?"

Izzy looked up from his laptop for a while to glance at his friend. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Yamato said distractedly, converting back to his in space mode. He watched Tai out of the corner of his eye.

The group looked at each other. They could tell that something was wrong with Yamato, but he was in one of his moods and they knew that it was useless to talk to him.

Tai knew that Yamato was watching him. 'Why?' He thought, playing with his handband. He was so busy that he didn't see or hear Mimi asking him if he wanted breakfast.

"Tai? Tai? **TAI?!**" Mimi grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard. "**You there?!!!"** She screamed. It seemed to work because Tai jumped then covered his ears. "What?" He asked irritated.

"Is something wrong?" Patamon asked.

"Nuh uh." Tai shook his head and replaced the far out expression but a goofy smile. But it didn't fool anyone for a moment.

Mimi smiled, hoping to settle the tension around the campfire. "You hungry?" She asked, holding out a few slices of melon which were neatly cut, done by Yamato himself.

Everyone smiled. They knew that Tai couldn't refuse any food. This was Tai they were talking about. He was always hungry. So they were really shocked when Tai shook his head again. He stood up slowly, careful of his aching back. "I'm gonna... get some air!" Then he walked away before someone would point out that they were outside and there was plenty of air all around them.

Yamato watched as their 'leader' walked away.

"What's wrong with everyone today?" TK asked innocently. Then from beside him, Kari stood up as well, her brown eyes held concern for her older brother. He was holding the pain inside again. "I think I'll see if anything's wrong." Shre quickly ran after the retreating figure of her onichan.

Everyone watched her leave. "Something's wrong here..." The ever so noticing Gatomon pointed out.

Jyou nodded. He tried to look through his head if it was the starting of some kind of disease or disorder. But none of them came to his mind at that moment.

"You know, that's the first time that our leader has ever not been hungry..." Palmon remarked.

"What would be wrong?" Sora thought outloud.

"Maybe a digimon turned them evil." A grinning Gomamon said. When everyone glared at him, he blinked. "Sorry."

***

zeni: what do y'all think? Is it okay? Let me know so that I can work on the rest of it!!


	2. chapter 2

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Title: The Courage Child

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Author: angel zeniko-chan

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Email: zeni24@hotmail.com

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Rating: Taito, a bit of Takari, Koushiro/Sora, and Mimi/Jyou

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Summary: In the Digital World, Tai is targeted by a powerful digimon who wants our favourite leader to rule with her.

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Author's Notes: second chapter! Hope you're up to it!

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Disclaimer: Digimon doesn't belong to me....

*** change of POV or time gap

"speaking"

'thinking'

__

Italics: letter

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The Courage Child

Part 2

"Tai! **Tai**!" Kari cried, running after her brother.

Tai turned around. "Hey Kari." He reached out his hand and Kari took it. Then he knelt down beside her, looking into the deep pools of brown. "What's up?" He asked, giving her a goofy smile.

Kari looked up to her brother, seriously. "Why didn't you tell the others about what happened?" She asked.

Tai sighed and sat down on the grass, pulling Kari down with him so that she sat in his lap. He hugged her close. "I don't want them to think I'm weak or something. As the leader, I have to be strong for everyone because they look up to me for advice and strategies. I have the crest of **Courage**, and I can't let anyone think that I didn't deserve it..." He broke of, thinking of Yamato.

At this Kari almost cried. Her brother was crying. She couldn't remember the last time Tai had cried. But then she couldn't remember the last time when someone really asked Tai if something was wrong. Everyone naturally looked up to him to be the strongest and it shocked her greatly to find out that he was just like any of them.

"Don't cry, onichan..." She hugged him tightly, as if she never wanted to let go.

"I need to tell you something, Kari." His tear-filled eyes looked in Kari's deep chocolate, understanding ones. Brown looked into brown. "What..." Tai hesitated. "What would you say... if I told you I like boys...?"

Kari smiled. "That's ok." She said, not quite understanding what Tai meant.

Tai looked at her. "Not just liked. What if I said I **love** a boy?"

Kari looked confused. What was wrong with loving another boy? "Is it wrong? You love daddy, don't you?"

Tai smiled at his little sister's innocence. He was sorry for being the one to marr that innocence, though. But Kari had to understand. If she didn't, then Tai didn't know where he would turn to. Who he would ever confide in. "I'm **gay**. Loving daddy is different... but... don't tell anyone this... I love Yamato." The last part was whispered so softly that the little girl almost didn't catch it.

Kari squealed when she finally heard it. "That's **great**!"

Tai looked at the green grass, miserably. "No it isn't. Yamato's not gay. I know it. People in the world hate gay people..." He lay on his back, forgetting his wounds for a moment. "I won't be able to take it if Yamato hated me..."

Kari hugged her brother, lending him her strength and comfort. She knew that he needed something to cheer him up. Something to distract him. "Play me something." She asked, putting on the famous 'Kamiya-puppy-face', taught by Taichi himself.

Tai laughed and sat back up. He knew that he couldn't refuse that face. In truth, he did need something to take his mind of Yamato... and his wounds, but he didn't want Kari to know that they were hurting again. She would panic. He careful took out his flute and wiped the mouthpiece with the corner of his shirt. Then placing his fingers on the keys, he trilled a few notes, testing the pitch and then began to play a sad melody, pouring his feelings into the tune.

It echoed off every branch, from every tree. Everyone in the area heard it. Especially Yamato and the others who had stopped to listen to the sound.

***Yamato jumped up. 'That's what I heard last night!' He thought as he quickly got up and ran towards the source of the music. Everyone picked his lead and followed.

Then, as sudden as it began, the music stopped. This only made Yamato run faster though.

***

Something happened that made Tai stop. Kari had fallen asleep in his lap so he didn't want to wake her. He gently moved her aside and pushed away the hair from her closed eyelids as he crawled a little further so he wouldn't accidently wake her. Something in his stomach was acting up. There was the same bubbling in his throat and he started to cough violently, softening the sound only by a bit from his sleeve.

He gripped into the grass, still covering his mouth, trying to make it stop, but somehow it only made it worst. He fell to his side and clutched his middle. Whimpering softly, he tried to take the pain off his mind, but nothing happened. 

Taking his flute, he tried to play, but with every note, it seemed to make the pain worst.

Finally, Taichi couldn't take all the suffering and he blanked out, his shiny flute falling from his grasp. 

***

"**Tai**! **Kari**!" Yamato yelled as he and the others ran all over to find them.

"They can't have gone far." Jyou said, panting heavily from all the running.

Upon hearing someone cough, Yamato panicked even more and ran faster. There was only one person who could be coughing so badly. **Tai...**

"That's Tai!" He yelled to the others, making them run faster then ever.

"TAI! KARI!" Everyone shouted, but no one answered. Then the coughing stopped aruptly.

"Tai!" Mai yelled desperately. "Answer me please!"

But nothing...

Then finally, as if after hours of running, they reached a clearing.

Kari was curled up in front, sleeping like a baby.

"Kari!" TK cried as he and the girls ran up to her. They took a hold of her shoulders and shook her until she woke up. "Tai... What?" She asked when she finally did. "Where's Tai?" She sat up. She knew something was wrong when she didn't feel a body under her. She knew that she had fallen asleep in her brother's lap, but where was he now?

Sora looked at her confused. "You mean you don't know?"

Kari thought for a while. "We were talking then he played his flu-" She stopped suddenly, then hit herself over the head several times.

"Kari?" What's wrong?" Mimi asked the frantic girl.

"He told me not to tell!" Kari cried. She had betrayed her brother's trust, so she sat down and refused to talk to anyone, while staring at the ground.

Yamato looked around. While the others were busy with Kari, in his opinion they should be looking for Taichi. He moved his head to each side, looking for any sign of the soccor boy, when he saw a glint of silver. 

"Tai?" He asked. "Is that you?" Yamato cautiously walked over.

It **was** Tai.

He was slumped on the ground, in the dark shadows of the giant willow trees. If Yamato haden't seen the sun reflecting of the metal, he would have definately passed him.

Right now, his best friend was lying on the ground, his tanned skin looked almost white, which was very close to impossible. He seemed to have trouble breathing because he was gasping heavily. His silver flute lay beside him, most likely fallen from his grasp.

Yamato knelt down beside the smaller boy. 'What, no who could have caused this?' He thought. He blamed himself though. 'If I had only watched him better, then Tai wouldn't be like this.'

Reaching one hand out to touch Tai's face, he felt his forehead burning up.

"Hey, Jyou! Koushiro! I need some help here!" He called out. Tai had a fever. And by the looks of it, it was a pretty bad one at that.

Jyou rushed to Yamato and Tai's side and the each put one of Tai's arms around their shoulders. Holding onto his waist, they walked back to the others. But not before Jyou saw the blood on the ground. "What?" He asked, trying to get a closer look.

Yamato looked at him, holding Tai up. "What?"

Jyou pointed to the ground with one unoccupied hand. "Look."

Yamato looked to where Jyou pointed. Right where Tai had lain was a tiny pool of blood. "Huh?" He asked. Then he remembered Tai coughing up blood this morning. He told Jyou about it. It was hard to keep it a secret anyways, and Tai needed help, which only Jyou could give.

"Why didn't he tell us before?" Jyou threw his hands up in frustration.

Tai's arm fell from his shoujlder and Yamato desperately tried to keep him up. His arm slipped up to Tai's back. He took it away when he felt something liquidy on it. 

**Blood.**

He stared at it. Then realizing that Tai need help, he lifted Tai up easily in his arms and cradled him to the campsite, where he gently placed him on top of the giant leaves that the digimon had collected. Then he rolled Tai on his stomach.

Kari came over to see her brother. Taking his flute, she held it tightly, and cried. "I soory Tai..." she kept repeating over and over, as if by magic Tai could be restored by these words.

Yamato gently peeled Tai's soaked shirt off his back and lifted it up over Tai's head. It was caked in blood.

Jyou handed him the scissors, knowing that even if he tried to pry Yamato away to finish the job, the blond wouldn't leave. He was the oldest of them all, and he understood the most. He could see all the mixed emotions in Yamato's eyes, but one emotion stood out the most. Love.

Yamato took the scissors and cut the bandages off. Kari had done a good job wrapping up the wounds and it was easily taken off. What all of the digidestined saw on Tai's back horrified them to no end. Yamato was especially shocked. Tai. **HIS** Tai had five deep gashes one his back. Yamato could hardly speak. "What... what happened?" He asked in a shaky voice. 

Jyou took over his spot and bound Tai's wounds again.

Kari told them everything she knew. About Miliramon coming for Tai and how she tried to take Tai away. About her going into Jyou's bag and wrapping Tai's wounds. By that time, everyone had crowded around their fallen leader. The digimon were sitting a bit further away, trying to comfort Agumon who wouldn't look at his partner because he felt as if he had failed him. He had let Taichi be hurt while he was sleeping. 

"Does he play the flute?" TK asked.

Kari nodded tearfully. "He taught himself how to, a while ago. No one knew, not even our parents, but one night when I couldn't sleep, he played for me. He's been playing for me everynight after that."

Sora started. Now that she thought about it, she really didn't know much about her best friend and she's known Tai the longest out of everyone there, but Kari. "Why didn't he tell us?" She asked, hurt. Koushiro placed one arm around her, letting her know that she should calm down. 

"He thought that you would laugh..." Kari said quietly, looking at her brother's flute.

Mimi nodded. She knew that the little girl was right. If Tai had told them that he played the flute, Mimi was sure that even TK would have laughed. At that time, picturing Taichi playing a flute was impossible. He seemed like the type who would love to lead and would always disobey anyone. The type to rebel. 

But after getting to know him better, Mimi was confident that Tai didn't like leadership at all. He was down to earth, and somehow he always knew what others were thinking and knew how to comfort them and make them smile. That's what she missed most of all right now. Tai's smile. 

Everyone felt the same. Taichi was the strongest person they knew, and if this Miliramon could hurt Tai that badly, then they would be safe. 

Yamato was hopping mad inside. This Miliramon had caused his best friend, his love to hurt. And he was hurting badly. Yamato vowed that she would pay. And pay dearly. But one thing nagged him in his mind. Digging your nails into someone's back wasn't supposed to make them have a fever and cough out blood.

"There is a perfectly good explanation for this." Koushiro said when Yamato said this outloud. He had taken his arm from Sora's shoulder when he thought that she was okay again. Taking Taichi's digivice, Koushiro placed it in the slot where Gennai had made so that they could see the digimon each other saw. There, after typing a few computer sentences, he was able to access info the the digimon Tai had seen.

Yamato looked over Koushiro's shoulder as the computer freak pointed to a picture. Clicking it, a short biography of Miliramon showed up.

"Claw of Poison. Makes the opponent..." Sora stopped, unable to continue.

"...die slowly by the poison seeping into the veins." Koushiro read slowly and solemly.

There was silence while everyone tried to think of something to say. What could they say? Their leader was going to die.

"Why Tai?" TK was crying along with Kari. The girls were drying as well and Yamato thought he saw Jyou and Koushiro wipe something from their eyes as well.

There was a groan of pain and then a voice. "It was because she wanted me to rule with her..." Taichi said as he slowly tried to sit up. His back was throbbing again and something in his head was hurting a lot. But he had woken up to find everyone crying. Crying for...? He couldn't tell. Then he heard TK's question so he tried his best to answer it. He had not told Kari as to **why** Miliramon had come because he thought that she was a bit young to understand, although now he knew that she was wrong. The youngest would always be the wisest.

"TAI!" The girls cried. Yamato saw that Sora and Mimi had to restrain themselves from jumping on their leader and hugging him to death. But Kari didn't have that kind of self restraint. She flung herself onto Tai, sobbing loudly. For a split second, Yamato saw the pain flicker through Tai's chocolate brown eyes, but then it was replaced by Tai's goofy smile.

"Yup! It's me! Why's everyone crying?" He asked, hugging his sister back. 

"Cuz you're gonna die!" Mimi cried out. Jyou gave her a hug and she sobbed on his shoulder, making his shirt all wet, but he didn't mind.

The goofy expression was replaced by a comical hurt one. "Thanks for having confidence in me." Taichi said wryly. Then he smiled brightly. "It's only a few scratches. It doesn't hurt one bit and it's gonna have to take something more then that to kill me."

Yamato couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. Seriously, sometimes Tai was wayy too annoying to put up with. "Not even poison?" He asked.

Tai smiled. "Not even poi- what?" He asked looking into Yamato's blue eyes. There he saw his answer.

He sat there, dazed. Poison... He was going to die from poison... 'I need to get outta here.' He suddenly thought. He pried Kari's hands from his arm and gently stood up.

"Tai, wait!" Kari tried to pull her brother back down, but even when he was hurt, he was still much stronger. "You're still hurt!"

Tai smiled distractedly at his sister while taking her arms off his. "Don't worry. I'm fine. It doesn't hurt anymore." He took his flute from her tight grasp and patted her on the head. "Stay here. I need to think for a while."

Everyone watched as he walked away. Or rather limped away.

Yamato was regretting saying those words out loud now. He hadn't meant to hurt Tai, just to knock some sense into him.

"Maybe someone should watch him." Sora said. "Make sure he doesn't get hurt." Everyone nodded at her suggestion, but no one moved from where they were sitting.

***

Taichi walked away from his friends. 'Poison...'He kicked a stone that was in his way, ignoring the pain that shot through his stomach. His eyes watered as he thought about it. 'Why me? Why not anyone else?... No. Better me. I rather it be me then Kari... or Yamato... or anyone else...' He wiped his tears away on a giant leaf. His shirt was soaked with blood so he wasn't wearing it.

'I can't cry...' He thought. 'Kari will be sad if I leave her. I promised I wouldn't...' Then he sighed. 'But no one else needs me...'

Raising his flute to his lips, he blew softly into the holes and gracefully moved his fingers around. He didn't care if anyone heard anymore. They all knew anyways and he was glad that they did not laugh.

Leaning against a tree, he poured his heart and soul into the notes. Everything that came out seemed so calm. So different from what he was feeling inside. He closed his eyes, still playing. Even though he felt the pain in his stomach, he continued to play.

"I'm back!" He heard a voice say. Opening his eyes, Tai was met with the face of Miliramon. He continued to play, not wanting anyone else to get hurt.

Miliramon glided up to him and placed one hand on his bare chest. Tai shuddered at the touch and at the chill which ran down his spine, but still he continued.

"You know," she said seductively, "I need someone like you." She scratched his cheek with the hand that wasn't drawing invisible designs on his chest. Then she pulled her head close to his and licked the clood off his cheek. "Someone strong and determined..."

She took one finger and traced a line down his bare chest, to the zipper of his shorts. She leaned in towards Tai and started to bit him in the hollow of his neck. 

Taichi winced with the pain, but he didn't stop playing. 

Miliramon marked him almost everywhere before slowly unzipping the metallic zipper to his shorts. 

To be continued....

angel zeniko-chan: I swear I think I'm evil....


	3. chapter 3

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Title: The Courage Child

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Author: angel zeniko-chan

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Email: zeni24@hotmail.com

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Pairing: Taito, a bit of Takari, Sorashiro (If thats how it is, Sora/Koushiro), and Jyoumi

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Rating: There's nothing THAT bad. A bit of kissing in a m/m relationship. Some light swearing. I would say PG13.

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Summary: In the Digital World, a powerful digimon wants our favourite leader to rule with her.

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Author's Notes: yeah! chapter three!!! (I just noticed that I screwed up the rating and pairing there instead. Sorry, people.

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Disclaimer: Digimon's not mine...

*** change of POV or time gap

"speaking"

'thinking'

__

Italics: letter

****

The Courage Child

Part 3

That was too much for Tai. It was one thing for a digimon to bite him, but for her to rape him? "No!" Tai yelled and pushed her away. "Stay away from me!"

Back at the capsite, Yamato and the others heard Tai's yell.

Kari was the first one to her feet, followed closely by Yamato, then Agumon and the rest of the gang. They ran towards the direction where Taichi had disappeared to. "Taichi!" They yelled when they saw him and Miliramon.

"Leave him alone!" Yamato yelled after he saw all the red bite marks, some spewing blood, on Tai's upper body. He saw red only. This digimon was going to pay for what she had done to his beloved.

Taichi's eyes widened as he saw his mistake. By yelling out oud, he had caught the attention of the other digidestined, therefore putting them in danger. All because of him. "No..." He whispered softly.

"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!" Tai's yellow dinosaur digimon partner yelled and changed his form, growing bigger so that he could save his friend.

"Claws of Poison!" Miliramon yelled out. She took one claw and flew towards the brown striped tyranasaurus-like digimon.

"No!" Tai cried out.

Miliramon missed, thanks to Tai's cry. She was so angry that she spread her arms out and shot his other attack. "Darkness Flight!" A black shadow like thing came out of her body and rammed into a tree. He fell and dedigivolved back into Agumon. "Greymon, no!" Tai screamed. He ran up to his fallen partner.

"Sorry, Tai..." Agumon said weakly.

Tai smiled. "Don't worry about it." He said. "I'm just glad that you're okay."

Just like Greymon, none of the other digimon had a chance either.

Miliramon smiled and laughed as she blasted Ikkakumon away. Then she turned to the humans, smiling menacingly. "I'll be back for you, Courage." She directed to Tai before she disappeared into the night.

Tai sighed in relief then fell to the ground, unconscious from all the energy he had used up. 

"Tai!" Yamato caught him in his arms. He and Jyou carried him back to their campsite where they all pitched in to make him as comfortable as possible.

While taking care of him, Jyou noticed that his zipper was halfway undone. 'She tried to rape him?' He thought horrified. 'That's why Yamato was so angry!' He quickly zipped it back up and buttoned the tiny button which seemed to be in perfect condition compared to Tai's body. 'I hope the girls didn't see that.' He thought. He didn't want anyone else knowing if Tai hadn't want it to be known.

Then strolling towards where there was a group huddle, he pulled Yamato aside, unoticed by anyone else. 

Jyou had seen Yamato acting very weird these days. As if he wanted something. And Jyou knew that he wanted something from Tai. He had seen all the glances which he'd only seen from lovestruck girls when they meet a guy of their dreams. Yamato seemed like one of those girls. 

"Matt," He said Yamato's english name. No one knew why, but Yamato didn't like being called by his japanese name. Only Tai was allowed to call him that. 

Yamato turned to Jyou, and for a split second, Jyou thought that he saw concern and love in Yamato's ice blue eyes. Then he turned back to the pale eyes which Yamato looked at everyone with. Everyone but Takeru and Taichi. 

"I gotta tell you something." He pulled him from Takeru's side. The little blonde boy was busy comforting Kari, who was clinging to his arm, making him blush. Tai's sister, was crying very loudly and nothing seemed to stop her tears. 

Sora, Mimi, and the rest of the digimon were busy trying to look for some herb that would make Tai's pain go away and Koushiro was on his trusty laptop like usual, typing away at some medicine site and emailing Gennai about Tai's conditions and what they could do about it.

Yamato was still gripping onto Tai's silver flute as he followed Jyou quietly.

They stopped at some trees and Jyou looked deep into Yamato's uncaring eyes. "You care for him, don't you?" Jyou blurted out.

Yamato looked shocked as he finally raised his head to look at the blue haired to-be-doctor. Then he sighed. "Yeah. But Tai's straight. He'd never like me." He mumbled.

"I wouldn't think that..." Jyou said with a hint of a smile.

Yamato gave Jyou a weird look. "Why did you pull me away from the others anyways?" He asked the older guy.

"Right." Jyou snapped back to the present. "Don't do anything drastic, but..." he shifted his glasses nervously, not sure about how he should say this. "Well... I think that... Miliramon tried... tried to... rape Tai." The last part was whispered out very softly.

"WHAT?!" Yamato yelled out.

"Sh!" Jyou put his hand over Yamato's mouth. "I don't think anyone else noticed anything..." He told Yamato about how Taichi's zipper was half way undone. "And plus, you know Tai. Even better then I do. He would never do anything to put us in the danger so he wouldn't cry out if it wasn't something drastic."

Yamato nodded. It made sense. Tai wouldn't have wanted anyone in danger. If Miliramon had been threatening him, he would have tried to stop her himself and not tell anyone, in that case probably writing his own death wish. 'I knew digimon were dangerous... but to rape someone? Especially Taichi?'

Yamato clenched his fists. 'Miliramon is going to pay. And she will pay dearly.' He vowed silently. But first he had to make sure that Tai was alright. 

Yamato and Jyou went back to the campsite where everyone but Kari, TK and Agumon had left the prone, pale figure of Tachi Kamiya. Yamato gave his bedst friend's little sister a hug. 'If, and I mean if. If Tai dies... then I'll take care of Kari. I know he would want me to.' He thought on the inside, but on the outside he put on a hopeful smile for the distressed little girl. "Don't worry, Kari. Tai will be fine. He has to be fine."

Kari smiled and gave Yamato a thankful smile. "I hope so... I really hope so..."

***

It's been days since Miliramon was last seen by any of the 8 digidestineds and their digimon partners. Aslo days since Tai last woke up. He still lay in the same spot as a few days ago, pale and feverish. The wounds have almost closed now, just forming batle wounds which scarred, in Yamato's opinion, Tai's beautiful body.

Koushiro, Sora and their digimon had left with Augmon, who felt as if he failed Tai and wanted to do something useful, to search for the mysterious antidote that Gennai had sent them which should be able to cure Tai from the posion running through his veins.

Fortunately, the poison that spread through his body was slow, which gave them a bit more time to find the cure.

Mimi, Jyou and their digimon also did a bit of searching, but they searching around the area where Tai lay, only because Jyou knew the most about medical care.

Yamato, TK, Kari and their digimon stayed with Tai, waiting for him to wake up, and attending to his every needs.

At times when the younger children were asleep, Yamato would break down and cry. He asked himself why he hadn't told Tai sooner about his feelings, because he may never know how Yamato felt about him.

One night, Yamato was sitting in the same position he always did for the past few days. He held his harmonica in his hands and was playing a tiny song he had written for Tai in his spare time.

When he reached the chorus, he noticed that Tai's hand seemed to have moved. Yamato quickly dropped the forgotten harmonica and took Tai's cold hand. "Tai?" He asked eagerly. Finally his love was waking up.

Tai's eyebrows bunched up, then his deep brown eyes slowly opened, trying to adjust to the moonlight. Then he noticed Yamato's face in front of his and he felt very aware of his bare chest.

"Hey..." He said shyly, a tiny trace of red on his sheeks.

If possible, Yamato's smile brightened and he flung himself on Tai, who had just begun to try and get up.

And if humanly possible, Tai blushed even harder.

Yamato burst into tears. "I'm sorry!" He sobbed, his arms wrapped tightly around Tai's small waist, which led to some painshooting through Tai's back, but he bared it, happy and also embarassed that Yamato was hugging him. It was the first time that Yamato had ever shown that much emotion and Tai was not sure what he was supposed to do. He had never been good at comforting anyone. 

He awkwardly rubbed and patted the blonde boy's back. "Sorry for what?" He asked softly.

Yamato sobbed out the answer. "Sorry for not protecting you!"

Tai didn't have an answer to that, so he just held Yamato, hoping that he'd stop crying soon, but also hoping that he would never let go of him. He felt safe in Yamato's arms.

Tai suddenly noticed that not everyone was around. "Where is everyone?" He asked, afraid that something bad had happened while he was asleep. He knew that he was out for many days. 

Yamato pulled Taichi back down. "Relax, Taichi. You're still hurt." He said, not realizing that he had said Tai's full name.

Tai looked at him for awhile. 'He said Taichi... Why?' He had noticed Yamato's little slip. 'Could he l-? Nah... Wishful thinking, Tai.' He thought inside, but what he said outside was, "I'm fine." Yet he still lay back on the ground, his head in Yamato's lap. The he repeated his question.

"Koushiro, Sora, Biyomon, Agumon and Tentomon went to find a cure further away and Mimi, Jyou, Palmon and Gomamon went to look for one around here. Me, TK Kari and our digimon stayed behind to watch you." Yamato answered.

'All because of me...' Tai realized. He turned his head away, his eyes filled with unshed tears. Burying his head in his arms, he ignored the pain that ran through his wounds and cried. 'If anyone gets hurts, it'll be my fault. Then they're all going to blame me. And I have a feeling that someone will get hurt...'

Yamato's mind raced. 'Why did Tai turn away?' He wondered, confused. Then he saw the beautiful brown eyes he had grown to love so much, fill with tears. He felt a big pang in his heart. This was the first time that Tai had ever broken up in front of him. He always seemed so happy, so carefree. Yamato was jealous of him all the time, because others seemed to like being around him. 

'Tai's never cried in front of anyone before...' He thought. Tai had the crest of courage, and it was not possible for him to be sad and lonely. He's never been scared, or hurt... that's why everyone looked up to him. That's why they were working so hard to try and cure him. They've never seen Tai so pale, still and with so little energy, and it scared them. They wanted their energy-filled, happy leader again.

"T-Tai?" Yamato asked hesitantly.

"Why didn't you just leave me? I'm just a burden to everyone now. Just a useless, good for nothing..." Tai sobbed. He took the necklace that held his crest from around his neck. "Stupid crest of Courage." He cried, snapping the chain into two and tossing it away. "It shouldn't be mine anyways. I don't deserve it."

Yamato looked at his best friend. They had been best buddies for as long as Yamato could think of. And for all that time, Tai has never denied his crest. Especially when everyone knows that he was the right one to get that crest.

Inside, Tai was secretly seething at himself. 'Tachi Kamiya, you are the biggest loser in the world! You just started crying! And in front of Yamato too! Even worse!' But despite the yelling and bashing in his head, he continued to cry.

Yamato looked at Tai. His heart was breaking, seeing Tai; the strong, determined, confident Tai, now weeping. He hugged Tai and let him sob in his arms. "Tai, please stop crying. You're gonna wake TK and Kari up." Despite Yamato's pleas, Tai still continued to cry.

He tried another approach. "Tai, you're perfect for the crest of courage. Everyone knows that. And you're not being a burden." He said softly.

Tai had stopped sobbed loudly, but the tears still fell from his eyes.

Suddenly, Yamato was fed up. "Dammit, Tai! You're acting like a baby!"

This shut Tai up very efficiently. He pushed Yamato away and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. I know." He said quietly.

'Shit!' Yamato mentally cursed himself. "Tai..." He raised one hand towards Tai, but the brown haired boy woujldn't let anyone touch him.

"I know." Tai said again. "Just... just leave me alone! I know you want to lead. I know you rather have the crest of courage." He walked over to his crest and picked that and the snapped chain up. Then he took his digivice as well and threw it all at Yamato. "Take it! Just take it! I don't care anymore!" He took his flute gently from Kari's tight grasp and ruffled her hair softly, kissing her on the forehead. "Goodbye. Luv you, Kar." Then he got up and ran.

"Tai..." Now Yamato was the one crying. He stared at the crest and digivice in his hand. Then he got up as well. "Tai, wait!" He tried chasing after Tai, but even with his back wounds, Tai was still the soccor champ and the fastest runner in the school. He got away very easily.

Yamato slump to the ground. "Dammit, Yamato Ishida! Why did you have to do that?!" He yelled at himself, the tears already running down his cheeks, and as much as he wiped them, they still continued to falling off his face. "Tai. Come back... please..." He whispered.

***

Tai ran.

It didn't Yamatoer where, he just ran as far as he coujld.

Away from him.

Him...

Yamato Ishida...

"Why does everything happen to me?" He asked the sky, of course not expecting an answer. Which was good, because he never got one.

He stopped to take a deep breath. He was far enough, and those many gym classes with Yamato told him that the blonde was not built to be a runner.

Sitting on the ground, he finally made up his choice. He had three alternatives.

One, was to go back to Yamato and endure all the cursing and everything that he knew was going to come.

Two, go back home.

Three... rule with Miliramon. 

But he couldn't go back home, without something sending him back there, and he didn't want to go back to the campsite if Yamato was just going to yell at him some more. 'Plus, stupid blonde was probably laughing at how easy he got rid of me and took over as leader.' He thought with regret that he had ever loved his rival.

And three... Miliramon didn't seem like a bad person. She just wanted someone to rule her kingdom with her...

In a few minutes, Tai made up his decision. 'Now to call her...' He thought sadly. He didn't want to leave Kari, but right now, he had no choice. Hw sighed deeply and too out his flute. He'd noticed that she was always there when he played his flute. So maybe that might bring her to him.

He placed the mouthpiece up to his lips and blew.

***

Yamato was crying on the ground when he heard the sound of Tai's flute. 'Tai!' He got up with a new burst of energy and followed the sad music.

***

Taichi continued to play, unaware that Yamato was coming to look for him. Then he heard a sound from behind me him. Everyone always said that he had sharp ears...

Miliramon stood behind him. 

Tai looked at her, then dropped his gaze to the ground. "I'll rule with you." He said softly.

Miliiramon smiled. It was a pretty smile, which lit up her face nicely. "Really? What about your digidestined friends?"

Taichi looked at the lake beside him. "They're not my friends, and I'm not a digidestined anymore." He told her, not giving any reason why this was so.

Miliramon smiled again, not asking any questions. "Come." She said in a twinkling voice.

Tai tucked his flute safely in his pocket and walked over towards Miliramon. She gently placed her arms around his shoujlders, being almost a head taller then him, careful to make sure that her nail don't accidently scratch him. "Let us go, my king." She said softly.

Just then, a yellow blur ran towards them. "Tai!" Yamato yelled out.

Tai looked up for a second and Yamato saw some kind of unknown emotion in his eyes. Sadness? Then Taichi turned away. "Yes, let's go... my queen." He said, loud enough for Yamato to hear, breaking both of their hearts at the same time.

Miliramon gave the blonde kid a triumphant smile and she and Tai disappeared into the night.

"Tai, NO!" Yamato yelled out and rushed towards them, but it was too late. They had disappeared and the only thing left was Tai's beloved goggles.

"Tai!" Yamato screamed. "Don't leave me! I love you!" But it was no use. Tai was too far to hear anything of what Yamato said, whether he wanted to hear it or not. Yamato hugged the goggles tightly to his chest and cried. 

To be continued...

angel zeniko-chan: *sniff sniff* poor Tai-chan. I think I'm making them a bit too emotional in my stories.... But I like writing angst and thats the only thing I'm good at cuz I can think of too many sad things... Hmm... Oh well, review please!!! And the next chapter might take a bit more time cuz I have a big geography project to do and cuz my parents think I'm spending too much time on the computer... Laterz!!


	4. chapter 4

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Title: The Courage Child

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Author: angel zeniko-chan

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Email: zeni24@hotmail.com

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Pairing: definetely Taito, a bit of Takari, Koushiro/Sora, and Mimi/Jyou

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Summary: Back in the digital world. Takes place after their fight with Piedmon

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Author's Notes: read and review, onegai!! This is the fourth chapter (or part if you want to call it that) 

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Disclaimer: ...I wish digimon was created by me, but it wasn't. So NO flaming!

*** change of POV or time gap

"speaking"

'thinking'

__

Italics: letter

****

The Courage Child

Part 4

Taichi Kamiya, our favourite leader, was taken to a very... silvery and blackish room. 

"This is your room, Courage." Miliramon said.

There was a comfortable silver and black bed, with two pillows and mattresses. Beside it, stood a black drawer and a closet filled with clothes fit for a king. 'Figures...' Tai thought. 'Since now I'm the king...'

There was a desk with paper and pens for Tai to write in his spare time. There was even a bathroom with a giant full-sized mirror.

Miliramon waved to everythihng in the gigantic room. "Everything you want will be given to you. Just ring this bell." She indicated to a small bell at the double doors and rang it. Two lion-like digimon came in. "Yes my lady?" They asked in unison.

Miliramon waved to Tai. "This is your new king." 

The catlimon bowed low to Tai, who blushed. "Welcome, my lord."

Tai smiled, although it was a sad smile. "Hello..." He was already missing the others.

Miliramon caught on and she led him towards the closet and opened it. She looked inside then pulled out a set of clothing for Tai. It was silver and black, just like his new room. The black pants were long and kind of baggy, with pockets down at the knees, while the silver shirt was a tank top, which showed all the muscles that Taichi got from playing soccor during the summers.

There was also a matching cape, which showed his rank and a headband to replace the goggles he had left behind.

Then taking his hand, Miliramon led him out of the room and down the hall to the room just beside his. It looked exactly like his room, except it was red and black. "This is my room. If you need me, you can come here."

Next she showed him the pools, the kitchen, even the gardens, where Tai found many different kinds of flowers growing. It seemed that the only reason Miliramon had hurt Tai, was because she was lonely. And he could see it, now that she showed him around. Miliramon only had servants to serve her. 

Understanding this, Tai smiled. He was lonely too, so maybe this would actually work out. Perhaps they will rule happily.

The queen then left Taichi in the dinning room, where he was made and fed a huge meal. He had slept for so long that he missed many meals, and to make up for it, the cook filled the tables with food to satify Tai's stomach. Tai didn't wait, but dug in immediately.

***

Back at the campsite, Agumon and the others who had gone off looking for a cure came back to find a distressed Yamato and 5 sleeping smaller ones.

"Yamato? Where's Tai?" Koushiro asked.

"And why are you crying?" Biyomon asked. Sora put her hand over her partner's mouth. She could tell that something bad had happened because Yamato was holding Tai's goggles. The goggles that he never took off.

"Yamato?" Mimi said quietly, inching close to the sobbing Yamato. It shocked her when she had seen that he was crying. She had never saw Yamato show any emotion to anyone ebfore. Except maybe TK, Gabumon and very few times to Tai. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"He... he..." Yamato tried to say, but he couldn't. Just thinking about what had happened made him cry again.

"There, there." Mimi hugged her friend comfortingly, making Jyou jealous. She caught the glare that he gave Yamato and glared back. Jyou looked away sheepishly. "Sorry..." He mumbled.

Little by little, they were able to get the story ot of Yamato. He told them everything. How mean he had been to their leader, how he loved him, how Tai eran away and joined Miliramon to rule her kingdom because he had made a stupid mistake of yelling at him when he was sad.

By that time, Kari, TK and their digimon had woken up and hearing what Yamato had to say, she started crying again.

Sora hugged the little girl and tried to comfort her, but the little sister of Taichi just wouldn't let herself be comforted. "He promised me he wouldn't leave me..." She kept saying. "How could he break his promise?"

"I'm sorry..." Yamato finally stopped crying and sai. 

"Why?" Gabumon asked. He didn't want his human partner to blame himself so much.

"It's all my fault!" Yamato yelled out.

TK ran to his brother and hugged him. "No it isn't." He said softly.

"It is!" Yamato protested. "If I hadn't-"

Koushiro interupted him. "It's all our faults. We should've seen that he wasn't happy."

Everyone nodded, their heads bowed down. Without their leader, they weren't much. Tai was always the one that kept them out of trouble, and if they did run into trouble, he was always able to get them out in one piece. He was the best leader that anyone could have. Especially for one that was new to the digital world.

"We've got to get him back!" Palmon said.

Then Agumon spoke up. He had been silent the whole time, trying to sink everything in. If Miliramon came to get him, then she probably didn't know that he was going to die soon. So he voiced in out. He told them his reasons in believing so.

Koushiro and Tentomon nodded. They were the brains in the group and it all made sense to them. "We have the cure and we know how to use it. But without Tai here, it won't work and Tai might die."

"Then we have to get him back soon." Kari wiped away her tears. Everyone nodded to this. Everyone except Yamato.

"Yamato?" Gabumon asked his partner.

"There's one problem." Yamato started. He raised the hand that held Tai's crest and digivice. "How do we find him?"

***

After eating all the food he could fit in his stomach, Tai was led to the palace healer. "Magimon." Kalimon said to the ragged creature who wore a black cape. His face was completely covered up by the hood and the only part of his body which showed was the long, bony fingers.

"What can I do for you, my lord, my lady?" He asked. There had already been talk that Miliramon, their queen, had brought home a human boy for a king.

"Can you heal the scratches?" She asked, pointing to the wounds on Tai's back.

Magimon nodded and took out a pouch from his robes. He told Tai to lay down and then he spread the power on Tai's back first. Tai was amazed. The scratches healed right away. He didn't even have a scar! Magimon spread some more on every other part of Tai's body, making all the scrathes disappear. Then he gave Tai the pouch to keep. "Just spread a bit over the wounds. It should be gone in a few seconds."

Tai thanked Magimon and Miliramon teleported him to his chambers. There, the two took time to pick out what Taichi should wear for the celebration Miliramon had prepared for everyone in the kingdom to see how their new king was.

They finally decided on what Miliramon had first pulled out. She helped Tai put it on since he still felt a bit sore.

After Taichi placed the dark headband on, his dark brown hair fell over it, making him look absolutely adorable in Miliramon's point of view, and probably anyone else who would see him.

"Come." Miliramon kissed his cheek. She placed her hand on his arm and Tai remembered all the etiquette classes that his mother had forced him to take. At that time, he didn't thinik he'd need them, but now his mom proved him wrong.

After being announced to everyone, to Tai's embarassment, Miliramon also had to introduce him to all the nobles, who treated Taichi way better then they would have if he was still a digidestined. 

Then he hung back and tried to look like he was enjoying himself. He ignored the small voice in his head that said he would enjoy it much more if Yamato had been there with him.

***

"Miliramon, huh?" Gennai stroked his short beard. "No one knows that much about her." He told the seven digidestineds. They had travelled many hours just to reach Gennai's house and when they finally reached the little house, they were very disappointed to find out that Gennai knew not that much more then they did.

"We have to find him!" Kari cried. "I can't let my brother die!"

"There, there, Kari." Gatomon said soothingly, trying to comfort her friend.

"Is there any way that we can find him?" TK asked. He was like another brother to TK and he would miss him terribly.

Gennai absentmindedly nodded while searching through his draawers for something. "Now where did I put it? Here? No... There?" He muttered under his breath.

The digidestineds and their digimon partners watched as the old man ziopper through his house like a tornado on a sugar high.

Finally the Gennai-tornado stopped and he sat down, holding a very old scrap of paper. "This is a map for Miliramon's kingdom. But to get there won't be so easy." He pointed to everything they needed to be aware of. Cliffs, waterfalls, and many other things.

Yamato and the others were determined to get Taichi back. They thanked Gennai for the map and began on their way.

"Goodbye and good luck!" Gennai called to them.

Everyone but Yamato, who was distracted in his thoughts, waved goodbye. Then they followed their designated leader for now, Yamato who was also the one clutching onto the tiny parchement of the map. 'I'll find you, Taichi Kamiya, even if it takes me my life, I'll find you... my love.'

***

Back at the castle, Taichi was having a bad dream. It seemed so real. Almost like a vision. He dreamed that Yamato and the others had come to save hi. Then the catlimon appeared, led by Miliramon, who shot their most powerful attacks at the group. All he saw, was that he ran in the middle of the battlefield and there was a weird light... then nothing.

At that time, he woke.

Tai sat up in his luxurious bed. 'What does it mean?' He asked himself. Then a thought came to him. 'I can't let that happen... They can't find me... or something bad will happen...'

He took out his silver flute, which he had neglated for a few days already and started playing. A sad mellody echoed through the kingdom and anyone who was awake, cried for the pain they felt in every note.

Early in the morning, Tai sent the Griffonmon captain (captain of the guards) and two catlimon to find and deliver a letter he had taken a long time to write.

'Just as long as you don't come to find me...' Tai thought, watching the digimon fly/run away. 'Please don't come...' But in the bottom of his heart and mind, he wished that they **would **come.

***

"Oh no." Koushiro suddenly cried out as his digivice activated. "Two, no three large digimon are heading our way." Everyone looked to their digivices while the computer obsessed boy turned his laptop on. It was true. 

Some digimon were coming.

The three digimon weren't speeding at them, so they knew that they were not going to get attacked by surprise. But just in case, Yamato had some of the digimon digivolve.

Yamato stood in front and watched as a griffon-like creature landed while two lion-like creatures stopped as well. "What do you want?" Yamato asked after Koushiro found out who they were. "They're Ultimates." Koushiro whispered, typing on his laptop.

"As you already know, I'm Griffonmon. I am the King's guard captain." He said in a deep, bass voice.

"What king?" Sora asked, holding onto Kari and TK tightly.

"The new king that our lady, the queen has brought home for us." Griffonmon stated. The two catlimon, upon hearing mention of the rulers, bowed. Then Griffonmon smiled slightly. "I believe you know him pretty well."

The griffon cleared his throat and one of the catlimon stepped forward, bearing an envelope. "He asked me to bring this letter and to tell you to heed the warning inside." Then with a low growl, the catlimon to turn and ran off, with their gurad captain flying behind.

Yamato stared at the envelope on the ground. He couldn't make himself move. The only person he could think of that he knew very well in the Digital World was... Taichi.

Mimi stepped forward and took the letter in her pink gloved hands. "Well, " She started to say, "who wants to open it?"

Everyone looked at each other.

But no one moved, Kari stepped up and took the letter from Mimi. She bravely held her tears and opened it. It was a letter from Tai. She recognised his handwriting. The letter said:

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Dear everyone,

It's me, Taichi. I guess you woujld know that by now. I'm not sure why I chose to go with Miliramon, but... she seemed lonely. She didn't actually want to hurt me and I guess I've made her pretty happy by ruling with her. Don't worry, nothing much happened. Althought I think it mostly has something to do with my flute.

Can you believe that they've never heard of music before? It's amazing, but that's beside the point. 

At this, Kari smiled. Even in the saddest situations, and even in a letter, her brother could still make her smile. After wiping her eyes, she continued reading from the letter that held the answer to Tai's leaving.

_I'm really sorry for making you all worried, and I hope that you'll forgive me. But if you don't... then... well I don't expect to see you again._

To Kari, I'm really sorry. I love you lots. Tell mom and dad not to worry, I'm doing fine here. Tell them not to blame themselves for anything that they thought they did to make me leave. Don't blame yourself either, Kar. This is my decision. It's my path in destiny and I don't regret ever being your big brother. I'm sorry that I won't get to see you grow. I love you. Take care.

To Agumon. Since the first day we met, I knew that we'll be the best of friends. Watch Kari for me. I love you lots and hope to see you again someday.You have the courage. You don't need me there to help you digivolve. Protect everyone for me, k buddy?

To Sora. You're the best friend that anyone could have. Keep up tennis. Maybe I'll come back to the reeal world someday and hope to see you a tennis champ. 

To Jyou. You're the best doctor ever. Thanks for all the times you've helped me when I was sick. I'll never forget what you've done for me. 

To TK. You're like the little brother I never had. Take good care of Kari for me. And never give up hope.

To Mimi. You'd love the fashion here and I would describe what I'm wearing right now, but this letter would be way too long for my liking and probably for yours as well. Althought we've had our share of fights and arguements, you're a really good friend. I can't predict the future, but I bet that you'd be a model when you grow up. Don't forget to keep Jyou in line!

Jyou was about to protest, but Mimi just laughed while sniffling.

__

Koushiro, I think you're really smart and intellectual (yes I do know big words). You're a great friend as well, and maybe (I stress maybe) I'll come and see you once more. Oh! Most likely when you and Sora get married. 

Here, Sora and Koushiro blushed wildly.

_And to Yamato... I've only got one thing to say to you, and please don't hate me for this... I love you. I've loved you since... well, since we've first met and I always will love you. Even if we are not meant to be._

To all the rest of the digimon, your jokes, your support, your comfort, they've all helped me throughout bad times and good. You were the ones who protected us, protected me many times and also saved our lives, especially when I did stupid things. I'm glad to have met you all.

Don't forget me, cuz I sure won't forget you all.

Love you all, 

Tachi Kamiya.

PS: I know you will be able to survive without my constant nagging. Jyou, since you're the oldest, you're in charge from now on. Love you, and please don't come for me. I don't want anything to happen to any of you. Goodbye.

Everyone wiped their eyes. Tai was on all of their minds, not only because he was the leader, but because he was a part of the group, a very close friend. And no matter what any of them said before, he was the one who pulled them through all the bad times, all the fights, he led them through the digital world in one piece and they won't be able to survive without him.

"We're coming after you, no matter what!" Yamato decided for them. No one protested. They too, were determined to get Tai back at any costs.

They took a glance at the map and decided to walk North.

Yamato walked ahead. He was the silently made leader, and Jyou didn't mind only because he would be too nervous to lead them anywhere. "Let's go then." He said.

Everyone nodded, then wiping the tears from their eyes, they set off, their minds and hearts set on finding their leader and returning him to where he belonged. With the group.

To be continued...

angel zeniko-chan: ohh... no cliffhanger here... at least I think there isn't one... I'm thinking that since you got this far, you read the whole chapter, right? well, review k? Thanks a lot!!! Hang on for the next chapter of the Courage Child!!!


	5. chapter 5

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Title: The Courage Child

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Author: angel zeniko-chan

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Email: zeni24@hotmail.com

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Pairing: Taito, Takari, Koushiro/Sora, and Mimi/Jyou

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Summary: Back in the digital world. Takes place after their fight with Piedmon. Someone comes for Taichi and the digidestineds are looking for him.

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Author's Notes: read please!!! 

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Disclaimer: Digimon's not mine... happy people? So no flaming!!

*** change of POV or time gap

"speaking"

'thinking'

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Italics: letter

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The Courage Child

Part 5

"So, did they read it?" Tai asked the group that just returned from delivering his letter.

Griffonmon nodded after Tai dismissed the other two catlimon, who went to get some rest after that long run they just had. "Yes, Master."

"Are they heading this way still?" Tai asked, half of him hoping they were and the other half, hoping they weren't.

Griffonmon shook his head, curious about why his master was asking these questions. "No master. They'll be here in a few days."

Tai nodded. "Good job. You may have the rest of the day off if you'd like. And don't call me master."

The bodyguard looked confused. "Then what shall I call you?"

"Call me by my name, Taichi. Or if you must, then call me king. But not master, because I am not enslaving you." Tai answered him.

Griffonmon had a trace of a smile on his face. This... kid, really did know what he was doing. He had the leader sense in him, and Miliramon made a good choice in selecting him as the king. "Very well... Tai."

Tai nodded again, but this time he smiled. "You may take that rest now." He dismissed Griffonmon, who bowed low before running off, probably towards the kitchen.

Then Taichi turned to his balcony where many of his people were yelling. He opened the door and there was silence. "What is happening here?" He asked one of the pheonixmon who were flying around, trying to ward digimon away from his door.

"They want to hear you play, my lord." The giant fire birds bowed.

Tai smiled. His digimon people had never heard of anything like the music he played from his flute. "Very well. Calm them down and I will play for them." He said. He knew that they wouldn't let him alone if he didn't, and plus, he liked playing for people.

The fiery birds flew off in every direction, getting the digimon to be silent.

They all did when they saw Taichi bring the flute to his lips and blew. The most soothing sound came out and the digimon found themselves falling in love with the music.

Tai was happy in his head. It wasn't all that bad.

***

Miliramon was also smiling from her own balconey. She watched as her young king played his music, entrancing every digimon who could hear the sound. 

This Taichi. He seemed destined to rule. Everyone listened to him. Not one digimon in the world was not hypnotised by the music played by their human king's flute.

It almost seemed to Miliramon that Taichi Kamiya was more then just a Digidestined Leader. 'His courage to act out in times of need, the courage he displays... no... it couldn't be...' Miliramon thought to herself. But despite her mind's protesting, her heart told her otherwise.

The Courage Child. The Leader of Peace.

'Perhaps,' she thought, 'I shall watch him furthermore.' She knew that she was fated to serve this Courage Child, which was the reason she first wanted Taichi. She was awaiting the arrival of the Leader. Maybe her wait has just ended. But she wouldn't know unless he actually transformed. 'I will wait.' She thought. 'It is all worth it in the end.'

If need be, she would follow the Courage Child to the ends of the earth.

***

Yamato and the others climbed up to the top of the mountain and looked down. Although Tai had made Jyou the leader, Yamato was the leader because Jyou was always too worried about being attacked by digimon or how they'd survive. So Yamato was the leader because he could come up with decently good plans and strategies.

Jyou didn't mind. He didn't want all the responsibility of others and secretly admired Tai for being about to work under those conditions.

Not standing at the top of the mountain, Yamato scanned the area before him. In the distance, not that far away, he coujld see the towers of a gigantic castle. Surprisingly to him, the castle looked... pleasent.

It was big and made out of red brick. The digimon who lived there were happy and looked in good spirits, doing their everyday thing.

Yamato shook his head and told himself that it was all a lie. Then he turned to the other digidestined who were also looking down at the village. He explained their plan of action to get Tai out and defeat Miliramon.

They all thought it was a dangerous, because there were so many digimon there that could fight, but they went along with it. They all wanted Taichi to be safely back with them, so they relunctantly agreed, Agumon being the first one to do so.

"Let's get some sleep. We have lots to do tomorrow." Yamato said. Their attack was to start at dawn to take the kingdom by surprise and everyone needed to get their sleep.

***

"Wing Blade!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Hand of Fate!"

"Celestrial Arrow!"

"What?!" Miliramon cried, shooting out of her big bed. She ran to the front door of her beloved castle. "What is happening here?" She asked, grabbing a catlimon on the way.

"T-the castle's under attack..." He stuttered.

"I know that. But why who?" She growled.

"D-d-digi...des...t-tineds.." He quivered. He didn't want to be on Miliramon's bad side. She had a quick temper.

Miliramon sighed and threw him to one side. "I'll take care of this myslef." Then she strolled into the open where the digidestineds were waiting.

***

Taichi woke up to the sound of battle, and the cry of Megakabuterimon's Electro Shocker.

"Megakabuterimon?" Tai jumped out of bed in only his pants. He ran out the door faster then anyone could say Agumon. "What is happening?" He asked Griffonmon, who was angry from being awaken so early in the morning.

"An attack on the castle. Digidestineds, your majesty."

"Digidestineds?" Tai asked, not noticing that his guard's captain called him 'majesty'. His mind was whirling, full of thoughts.

Griffonmon nodded. "Lady Miliramon has gone to sto-" Before he could finish his sentence, Taichi ran out of the door, to the front yard where the battle was held.

Miliramon and her guards were at the front, facing Tai's friends. Both sides got ready to launch their most powerful attacks.

"Attack!" Miliramon and Yamato cried at the same time.

A splitsecond later, Tai ran out and the attacks hit him, surrounding him by each side, giving him no chance to escape.

"Tai!" The humans cried, horrified.

"My lord!" The catlimons shouted, stopping in their tracks.

Miliramon stood in front, her mouth open, staring at the bright light which fell from the sky and came from deep beneath the earth. "It is..." She said, awed.

Everyone watched as lights flowed from every direction to where Tai stood just a while ago. Each light twisted itself to form Tai's crest. The Crest of Courage. Then it shoot to the giant light beam covering Tai's body. There was a flash of white and everyone closed their eyes from the harsh glare.

When they opened their eyes, the beam was still there, but someone was coming out of it.

Yamato looked around. He was still standing at the front door of Miliramon's castle. All his friends were there too. Then the first thing he saw from the beam of light, was a pair of mocha coloured eyes.

The figure from the light wore a pair of blue pants, which flared a bit at the bottom. His chest was barre, the muscles showing many fights and battles. On his back were a pair of big, white angel wings. At his shoulder, was the sun that signified Courage. His hair neatly fell over his chocolate eyes, over the blue headband he wore. And to finish his outfit, he had white combat boots and white fingerless golves.

"Tai..." Yamato said, awed as he stared at his beloved. He'd always thought that Tai looked like an angel, and this proved his thought even more so.

"The Courage Child... my lord."

Everyone gasped as Miliramon bowed low to Taichi. "I've waited so long for you to come." She said, in a voice of deep respect.

The person who was Tai, smiled. He looked older as well as wiser. "Miliramon, thank you for always having faith in me." The Courage Child's voice was a soothing and gentle voice.

Then the angel turned to the Digidestineds. "I'm the Courage Child, otherwise known as Taichi Kamiya in your world. I am also the Leader of Peace, the protector of the digital world." He told them.

Koushiro had taken his laptop out and was typing furiously at the keyboard.

The Courage Child smirked and everyone could see the resemblence in Tai and the Courage Child.

"It's no use, Joushiro. I am not a digimon."

"Then what are you?" Gabumon asked, curious.

"And what did you do with Tai?" Agumon clenched his fists (paws).

The Courage Child smiled softly and looked to his counterpart's digimon partner. "I'm... I guess you could say that I'm an angel."

"Really? You were always an angel to me..." Yamato muttered. Then noticing that everyone was staring at him, he blushed wildly and turned away. "Sorry..." He said softly. He didn't mean to say that out loud. It had just popped up.

"I'm Tai. We are one person." Tai explained, but everyone was still confused, so Taichi continued. "I will always be the same Tai would led you guys to battle. I will just have double the responsibility. And plus," He gave them a winning smile, "I get to fight instead of watching from the sidelines."

Everyone knew how much he hated that and nodded their agreement, but Agumon was still not convinced. Now that Tai was even more powerful then he was, his human/protector partner didn't need anyone to protect himself.

Taichi saw the look on his face and shook his head. "Agumon, I still need you. We're a team. No matter what happens." 

Then TK's stomach grumbled, followed by everyone else's in the digidestined group.

"I still have many things to explain." Taichi said and settled down on the ground. "But first, I bet you're all hungry." He raised his arms and a giant picnic appeared before the castle. He waved to the delicious food which sat upon the ground and welcomed everyone to it. "Dig in."

While they ate, he explained everything he knew about his existence. He was the one who looked after the digital world. "I expect that I do have several digimon attacks, but I've never tried using them before." He chuckled, while sipping a bit of the drink he had conjured up.

At the end of their discussion, everyone was happy and full up and they were also good friends. Miliramon let them stay at the castle as long as they wanted to. She and Mimi had gotten along very well, talking about the latest fashion in the real world and in the digital world.

After the delightful meal, everyone left to explore the giant palace. Everyone except for Tai, Yamato and Kari.

"I'm glad you're back, big brother. Don't ever leave me please..."

Tai hugged his sister back. "I love you too much to leave you again. Now go in. Me and Yamato have some things to talk about."

Yamato looked at him. Taichi smiled right back, making him blush.

"Oh... OH!" Kari understood what her brother was going to say to the blonde. She smiled and gave the thumbs up to both of them then ran to catch TK's hand during their tour of their new shelter for the next while.

Yamato looked at the one he loved. He was so beautiful. The sun was just setting and the rays of light bounced off Tai's hair, making it shine to an almost brownish gold glint. His brown eyes sparkled while he watched Yamato.

"Yama..." Tai started after their long silence.

Yamato cut him off, not looking into the deep pools of brown. "Tai, I need to tell you... I care for you too. I've loved you since we first met. Remeber the day when we first bumped into each other? Your eyes, your smile, everything of you attracted my attention." He turned away. "But now... I realized that..." He broke off. He had to tell Taichi how he felt. "I realized that... you're too perfect for me. You belong to someone better... Even if I can't have you, I'll always love you..." He trailed off, his eyes filling with tears.

Taichi reached one hand over to brush the tears away. Then he cupped Yamato's face in his hands so that the blonde looked straight into the angel's eyes. "I love you too."

Then to Yamato's surprise, he started to laugh.

Yamato liked his laugh a lot. In fact, he's always been jealous because Sora could make Tai laugh like that and he couldn't. But right now, it hurt. It hurt a lot to see and hear Taichi laugh at him. He got up, ready to leave.

Tai calmed down just enough to pull Yamato back down. "Yama..." When the holder of Friendship didn't answer him, he sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at you. It's just that I always thought you were too perfect for me..."

Yamato stared at him, his mouth open. 

Tai smiled. Then he gently brought his lips down to meet Yamato's. And there, under the sunset, they shared the most wonderful kiss ever while their friends watched and sighed at the cute sight.

***

Yamato woke up the next morning to the browing of roostermon. The sun had just come up, creating a wonderful scene. The blonde smiled and closed his eyes, envisioning how his love would look before he looked down.

Tai's unruly hair just trailing down the side of his face, some of his long bangs hanging in front of his eyes and the smile on his face making look like an absolute angel, (no pun intended since Tai-chan is an angel). Yamato looked down at his beautiful angel and gasped.

Tai was hunched over, his form crawled up into a ball. His beautiful brown eyes which Yamato longed to see were squeezed up tightly and his breathing was shallow... Too shallow for Yamato's liking.

"Tai! Taichi!" Yamato tried calling Tai's name and shaking his shoulders gently.

"Oh no!" Yamato suddenly realized that Tai had gone too many days with the poison in his veins.

"Koushiro!" He ran into Sora and Koushiro's room, where they were wrapped in a tight embrace, their clothing still on.

"Wh-what?" Koushiro asked, relunctantly letting go of Sora and rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What's happening?"

"The cure! The antidote!" Yamato cried. He was afraid that Tai might... might... He pushed the idea away from his mind. "Hurry up! Tai's not good. We gotta get it to him now!"

Koushiro's eyes widened and he was awake. "Shit!" He and Yamato ran into Jyou's room where the soon-to-be-doctor and the soon-to-be-model were sharing a passionate kiss.

"Hey!" They both cried, falling back as a frantic Koushiro and Yamato rushed in, interrupting their romantic moment.

"No time. We have to get the antidote to Tai before he dies from something horrible and we're left to ourselves!!!" Koushiro said in one breath. Yamato dragged Jyou and his medicine bag out of the room to his and Tai's shared room with the computer nerd running behind them, shooing them along.

"What's happening here?" Miliramon asked, stepping aside a second before Koushiro, Jyou and Yamato ploughed through.

"Somethin' 'bout Tai n' an antidote..." Mimi yawned sleepily while telling her friend.

Miliramon's eyes widned. "No! I didn't mean to!" She cried out. Mimi patted her back. "It's ok. Tai's tough. He's the leader, he'll get through." Miliramon nodded and with new hope in their hearts, Sora and them followed the boys to Yamato and Taichi's room.

Jyou and Koushiro tried to hold Tai down while Yamato tried to pour the antidote down his throat, but Taichi shook too much to do so. 

The girls, helped restraint the shaking Tai, but try as he might, Yamato couldn't get the potion in. Finally he got an idea and poured it into his own mouth.

Everyone looked at him, shocked. "YAMATO!" They shouted. Tai needed every single drop, but Yamato had a plan. He went over to Taichi with the potion in his mouth and kissed him, prying the dark angel's mouth open. Yamato forced him to swallow every last bit until Tai stopped shaking and fell asleep.

"Whew..." Everyone sighe in relief that it was over. After making sure that Taichi was really okay, they all went back to sleep, despite the fact that it was almost noon.

So when the youngest of the digidestineds, Kari and TK, woke up, they wondered why many hours later, their friends were still asleep, not knowing the panic the older digidestineds had gone through.

***

The dark angel's eyes opened slightly. "Thanks Yama..." he whispered. He knew what had happened from the Courage Child inside him. Then he pulled the sleeping Yamato into a loving embrace. "I love you, Yamato Ishida." He kissed Yamato's forehead.

"I love you too, Taichi Kamiya, my angel..." Yamato said in his sleep.

Both smiled and fell asleep in the other's safe, warm, loving arms, vowing never to let go of the other again.

The End

angel zeniko-chan: how was that? Good? Bad? Please let me know!!! And looked for my next story, which I haven't decided yet... Most likely another Taito! They're so cute together!


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